Zahra Rachid (55) was accused of betraying the trust of clients who believed they were paying for legitimate overseas travel.
The director of the now-defunct Travel World Sydney in Arncliffe appeared before Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, where Magistrate Susan Horan handed down her sentence.
Rachid admitted to eight counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, offences that formed part of broader allegations Australians first became aware of in 2023.
The court heard Rachid’s scheme ran for more than eight months through 2023 and into 2024.
In most cases, she took payment from customers for international flights – including destinations such as Portugal, Greece, Lebanon and Iran – but secretly cancelled bookings once the tickets were issued and kept the refunded cash.
Many victims only realised something was wrong when they arrived at Sydney Airport to board their flights, or when airlines told them no booking existed.
One victim, who paid more than $50,000 for a family trip, was forced to arrange alternative travel on the spot after his original booking was found to be invalid.
Another traveller discovered that the flights he believed were confirmed had been cancelled without his knowledge months earlier.
In total, eight people were defrauded out of amounts ranging from around $2,000 to more than $50,000 each, with the scheme netting more than $77,000 in improperly obtained funds.
Rachid, who has worked in the travel industry for more than 15 years, told the court she was remorseful and cited significant financial stress as a factor in her conduct, including impacts from COVID-19 travel restrictions and geopolitical tensions affecting bookings. Her defence also noted diagnoses of chronic anxiety and panic attacks.
Despite these factors, Magistrate Horan described Rachid’s actions as a serious breach of trust and expressed disappointment that none of the clients had been compensated prior to sentencing.
Rachid was sentenced to one year in prison with a six-month non-parole period, but because she had already spent months in custody on remand, she walked free from court.
She will serve the remainder on parole and was ordered to repay nearly $45,000 to clients who had yet to be reimbursed by their banks.
The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) confirmed to Traveltalk that Travel World Sydney’s accreditation was cancelled in July 2019 after the business failed to meet renewal requirements, including the provision of financial documentation.
“There is no place in Australia’s travel industry for fraud or criminal behaviour,” said Dean Long, ATIA CEO.
“This case is a strong reminder of why travellers should only book with ATIA-accredited travel businesses. If a business isn’t accredited, consumers should stop and ask why.”
